Taliban attack strategic Afghan city of Ghazni

The Taliban have launched a major night-time assault on the Afghan city of Ghazni, a provincial capital on the key highway between Kabul and Kandahar, BBC reports.

The militants took control of parts of the city before being pushed back to the outskirts, officials said.

Thirty Taliban fighters and one Afghan security forces' member were killed, according to the provincial government.

The number of casualties is expected to rise as many houses were destroyed.

At least eight civilians and seven government security personnel were injured, provincial government spokesman Mohammad Arif Noori Ghazni told the BBC. Sporadic gunfire could still be heard in the city, where Afghan special forces have been deployed.

The assault marks the fourth time that the Taliban have entered a provincial city in recent years. The militant group earlier said that hundreds of fighters had been involved and that government buildings, including the police headquarters, had been captured.